"It was life's simple pleasures, sit down and put a blade of grass in your mouth and remember how it used to be."

Denzel leads a diverse cast to battle the mercenary, played by Peter Sarsgaard, in contrast to the 1960s version which saw a white cast battle Mexican bandits, and Denzel said this reflected the reality of the old West.

"That's the way the world has looked and that way it has always looked on the American frontier, the Wild West was a melting pot, it didn't matter what colour your skin was but how fast you were with your guns," he said.